


A Fall in the Underground

by Helvetica (Toxically_Yours)



Series: A Fall in the Underground: All Related one-shots and Stories. [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Cutesy, F/M, Feelsy, Fluff and Angst, I didn't mean to ship this, Multi, Oh God what IS this?, Suicide mention, Tags to be added, Terrible puns everywhere, feely, help me, so much plot, terrible puns, very little smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-05-17 09:25:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5863783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toxically_Yours/pseuds/Helvetica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years and years after being thrown into the hole leading to the underground, a girl wakes up to find her soul has repossessed her bones. Here she must discover who she was, and who she will be with the help of her new found friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Down the Rabbit Hole

The last thing I remembered was my brothers’ hands tearing at my dress, trying to pull me away, down. I don’t remember the words that were exchanged, just that we were fighting, my gorgeous wedding dress…  
Then darkness, the kind one experiences instead of nightmares, or dreams. It was longer, though, than I had ever experienced before. When my eyes opened, it was like they were never really shut, I didn’t see my eyelids retreat from my vision. I was laying against the ground, dirty and cold. I was still wearing my wedding gown.  
But beneath it, all that existed were my bones, and I found myself screaming and trying to scramble away. It was my body, wrapped in vines and moss, flowers. How long? How long had I been down here?  
“Hello?” A kindly voice asked from the shadows, and I realized that I must have been tossed down the gaping hole above that sprinkled sunlight on a patch of buttercup flowers. “Is someone there?”  
“Help!” I called without thinking, standing on my shaky bone feet. I wasn’t concerned with how one might react to seeing a walking skeleton, I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.  
Before me, holding a lantern, was a goat woman. That is as best I can describe her. She had a snout, small, rounded horns, and soft white fur. She seemed taken aback by my presence here, like she didn’t expect to see me here. “Who are you?” Her voice was soft, soothing.  
I felt myself rattling and tears fell from my eyes, tinted purple. “I don’t know… I just woke up here.” I whispered and started trying to take in my surroundings. “I… I don’t remember… hardly anything.”  
The woman came to stand near me and took my hand. “Come, let me get you somewhere safe.” She sighed and lead me through the ruins. My body seemed to move itself using the vines that had grown over it, like muscles, they pushed and pulled in just the right ways.  
She lead me to small home that must’ve been hers, two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. She cleaned me up as best she could and regarded me carefully. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking. “Are you feeling better?” She asked after she had thoroughly washed my cheekbones of rot.  
I sniffled and nodded slowly. “Thank you.” I whispered and she smiled at me. It was the only memory besides the rough, mean touches of my brothers.  
“Of course… Now, I’m going to bring you to someone who can help you, okay?” She told me and patted the top of my head, which had flowers and vines growing from it. I nodded and she lead me down stairs, down a long corridor and to a large door. “You’ll be safe out there, my child. There are two others who will help you.”  
“Will I see you again?” I asked, looking up at her and wondering if my own mother had been so caring.  
“I’m sure we will meet again.” She assured and opened the door so that I could walk out into the snow. “Until then, this is goodbye.”  
I waved goodbye to her and found that the right side of dress was badly torn, there were a few holes and I felt very… Uncomfortable and exposed. Some of the hoop skirt under it stuck out, but I had no choice but to march forward in the cold. I couldn’t see my breath, probably because it was nonexistent between my bones, but there was snow, all over.  
I came across an outpost not too far away from the door and peered around it. “Hello? Um… Excuse me?” I called and a short skeleton dressed in unfamiliar clothing stood up from behind the desk, yawning and stretching.  
“Oh… I haven’t seen you around before.” He muttered, he seemed to be smiling, but when your teeth are always exposed it’s hard to tell. His eyes were just pricks of light against his dark, hollow sockets. “Who are you?”  
“I… was sent by the goat woman? She told me I… might find help here.” I explained and he looked over me in confusion and concern. “I… must’ve fallen down here a long time ago.”  
“Alright, alright. Let’s start real simple, okay?” He chuckled, probably left slightly irritable after being so rudely awakened. “Your name, what is it?”  
“I don’t remember, you see… This is all very new for me.” I laughed and he managed to frown, ran a blue sort of energy tongue over his teeth. “The last thing--”  
“Nah, nah, nah, we’ll get this.” He insisted and held out his hand. “My name’s Sans.” I went to shake his hand, and when bone should’ve met bone I felt rubber, and there was a ridiculous noise. I found my cheekbones warming and couldn’t suppress the giggle that welled in my chest. “Woopie-cushion, never fails.”  
I shook my head and brought my hands to cover my mouth, not that I could hide my teeth anymore. Still, the memory of the action was too great to stop.  
“Alright, so… What is the very last thing you remember?” He asked, lazily glancing off to the side.  
“I was human, in this dress, running.”


	2. White Rabbit in a White Dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girl gets a name and takes the first couple steps towards her new life, and remembering her old life.

“Huh, I’ve yet to hear a story about a human soul repossessing their bones, kid. Kinda hardcore.” He sighed and stroked his chin with his index finger and thumb. He wasn’t looking at me anymore, and seemed to be in a far off place. “Ah, well. What you were isn’t important anymore, if you’ve been down here that long, it’s time to remake yourself.”  
“And how do I go about that without knowing anything about who I was?” I asked, trying not to let on that I was angry that he wasn’t looking at me while we spoke. I had to be calm, and collected.  
“Well, let’s start with a name.” He looked me over, got out from behind the desk to circle me even. He was looking at my dress, the places where it had turned blackish brown, where old dry blood used to reside. “Looks like you were quite the fighter, huh? I mean, this can’t all be your blood.”  
I winced and crossed my arms, but otherwise remained still, and silent. He didn’t seem the dishonest sort, so I let him observe me until he was content, walking back behind his outpost.  
“I’ve got the perfect name for ya, ready?” He asked with a chuckle, eye sockets seemed to open a little wider. “Helvetica.”  
I frowned and thought about the name, twirling it over in my mind. It almost felt right. Slightly off, but good enough for now, I supposed and nodded slowly.  
“Wanna know how I came up with it?” He asked, grinning from ear to ear. (Or he would be, if he… Ya know… had ears.) “Ya look like a hell raiser. Blood all over ya, just fighting for your right to exist, even after death.”  
I frowned at his description, the language was unappreciated, but,in it’s own way, appealing enough to keep this name. “Helvetica.” I repeated under my breath.  
“Yeah, anyway. I think your best bet to… Movin’ forward, is gonna be talking to Alphys. She’s probably busy, so I’ll give her a call after Pap is done training.” He explained, as if I knew who any of these people were, but I guess it would have to work. “And the goat lady, her name is Toriel, if she sent you through, I should probably take care of you.”  
I frowned and then nodded slowly. “That would be very kind of you, I appreciate it.” I admitted, and tried to look grateful, not that I wasn’t, but this was all so much.  
“So, you probably don’t have any idea how any of this works, which means I’m gonna teach you all about life here in the underground.” He walked out from behind the outpost and nodded his head opposite the direction I had come. “C’mon, let me show ya around.”  
And off we went, he nodded and said hello to every odd creature we met. Bunny people, a lizard child and various others that I couldn’t quite place. I smiled at them and gave a little wave as we passed, my dress fluttering in the breeze and creating an almost cape like effect. It rippled and twisted constantly behind me, made me feel a little more powerful.  
“So, that’s the shop and the inn, up ahead is Grillby’s, it’s a pretty hot little restaurant.” He chuckled to himself. “And then the library, and my house.” We stopped in front of the door for a moment. “That’s basically it here in Snowdin.” The door swung open and he lead me inside, it was a quaint little house, the living space was large enough.  
“Ya might have to stay with us awhile, couch is always open.” He nodded to the piece of furniture closest to us, it looked a little well loved but I nodded slowly, appreciating that I would have something soft to lay on. I tried to think about my past, what it might hold, where my life before might’ve taken me.  
“Hey, you okay? You look upset.” He took a seat on the couch, and I remained standing, gripped my forearms with my boney fingers and sighed.  
“I’m just processing, I guess. May I sit beside you?” I asked and he looked startled by my manners but shrugged and nodded to the spot beside him. “These hands used to be flesh.” I muttered and he craned his head back slightly, looking at me from the side.  
“And what’s so great about being human anyway? They can be pretty violent creatures.” He muttered and put his sleeve covered arms behind his head. He looked pretty plump for a skeleton, but I decided against mentioning it. “I guess it’s probably a rude awaking though, huh?”  
“I don’t even know what happened.” I sighed, scratching the tips of my fingers against my skull. “Why did I remember anything at all?”  
“It’ll come back to ya, kid, just gotta… keep going.” He looked away, towards an odd box near the opposite wall. “I guess I should teach you a little about our home, huh?” He reached under the white shirt he was wearing, and the strange jacket and produced… A gooey heart shaped mass. “This is what a soul looks like. You have to keep it hidden, protected, especially from humans. If they destroy your body, your soul dies too, price of being a monster, I guess. Your soul basically decided it wasn’t ready to leave and became a monster to deal with whatever unfinished business you may have.”  
The soul was a brilliant blue color, and when I reached out to run my fingers along it he yanked back. “Hey now, a person’s soul is a very personal thing, don’t just be touchin’ em.” He scolded and replaced the mass wherever it was he stored it. I felt my cheeks get warm and he smirked a little. “I can tell ya what color yours is.”  
“And how can you do that?” I muttered, feeling a little sore after being scolded.  
“You’re blushin’ purple, your magic color and your soul color must be the same.” He snorted and grinned a little, seeming satisfied with himself. I gave him a cross glance and leaned back a little. “Pap’s is orange, like fire. He’s real careful though.”  
“So… how do you decide to show someone something intimate like that?” I was watching him carefully, interested in the way that he moved and spoke. I had to relearn bits of human (er… monster?) nature.  
“It’s a very personal choice, you usually show your closest relation. Lover, er, what-not.” He snorted at his use of the affectionate term. “I showed you for educational purposes. Letting people touch it… Well, unless you want… Nevermind.” He cleared his throat and I cocked my head to the side. “Pap’ll probably super excited, he loves making friends.”  
I raised my eyebrows. “Pap, uh, I still don’t know who that is, but friends are always welcomed.” I chimed and tried to make myself a little cheerier. At least I could fit in here, make friends here.  
“Papyrus, my brother, he’s… A dork.” Sans smiled, a reminiscent, sweet smile. “Innocent little guy, too, ya ruin that and I’m gonna have BONE to pick with you.”  
“O...kay?” I muttered and leaned back into the welcoming softness of the cushioned couch. I thought about how long my body had laid crumpled against the ground, rotting, growing new life from its flesh and blood. How long had my soul waited outside it, for the vegetation to take shape in such a way? Ivy that grew around my bones, into my hair and made me something new.  
“Getting tired?” Sans asked after a long silence, startling me out of my thoughts.  
“I shouldn’t be, should I?” I replied, and he turned to me.  
“You were snorin’ five seconds ago, so I’m gonna take that as a yes. You’ve been through a lot.” He stood up and went up the stairs, when he shuffled back down them, he was carrying a blanket and some pillows.  
Only now did I notice the ridiculous, pink, fuzzy foot covers he had chosen to wear. “Thank you again, I hope I’m not an inconvenience.” I arranged the two pillows against the arm and laid across the couch, fearing the darkness that waited for me.  
I didn’t even quite hear his answer, my head hit the soft pillow and off I went. Darkness didn’t wait for me here, instead I dreamed of a boy. His eyes were dark brown and filled with laughter. I remembered the taste of his lips, the sound of his voice, how it held my name like the note of a song.  
_“C’mon, Helvetica!” I know he never called me that, but follow readily. “Catch me if you can!”_  
_“Seb! Wait!” I cried after him, giggling as I tried to keep up with him through the underbrush. Brown hair in my face, tangled curls, lace dress around my waist. Ribbon in my hair._  
_“C’mon!” We walk in as deep as we dare, the trees so thick we can hardly see the light._  
_His lips, lips thin, drawn tight into a smile like a bow. Sweet boy, sweet kisses._  
_When we walk back my mother is waiting. Gives him ten lashes, makes me watch. “No! Stop!” I’m screaming, trying to stop the whip. Trying to hold back her hands. “Stop, mother please!” I grab for the whip and instead of catching it, it flicks across my shoulder._

“Helvetica!” There are firm, boney fingers on my wrists as I thrash. “Hey! C’mon, get up! You’re okay…” It was Sans, his sockets locked with mine as he waited for me to come back to the present. “Hey, you’ve been screaming.”  
I felt a hollow rock sitting somewhere in my rib cage, the tears that came from my sockets streaking down my bones. “I’m sorry.” I blubber and I catch the sympathy in his eyes.  
“You were only asleep a couple hours, must’ve been pretty bad.” He sighed and moved his weight off of me, electing to sit on the floor and play with the ivy that had grown to replace my hair.  
“I don’t wanna talk about it right now.” I whispered and he nodded. We sat in understood silence as he stroked my hair and let me try to come to terms with my night terror. I came to relish the simple touch of his hand in the green ivy strands, it wasn’t remarkably thought out, and he often caught snags, but it was the thought really.  
“You’ve got some flowers comin’ in, that’s pretty cool.” He mumbled, while I tried to find shapes in the ceiling. “Gonna be your own garden soon.”  
“He was like… a spring.” I finally whispered after being silent awhile, I felt his eyes on me, curious. “Like, fresh water in a drought, his lips like…” I let out a sigh, the love sick sigh that would surely drive me crazy if I weren’t the one sighing. “like honeysuckle. He always tasted sweet.” I was starting to cry again, tears trickling down my cheekbones. “He’s probably long dead now, huh? I mean… If I fell down here and… just waited. He’s probably gone.”  
“Aw, c’mon, he probably never stopped lookin’.” He was trying to be sweet, helpful, but I felt my nonexistent stomach churn. I felt sick and tired, and wondered how fast these memories were going to come back. He went back to untangling the ivy, and the door opened suddenly.  
“Hey Sans!” A loud voice called and looked over to see us, myself an unfamiliar form spread across the couch, Sans crouched beside me. “Sans, you lazy bones, how dare you not inform I, the great Papyrus, of our guest!” The tall skeleton demanded, stomping one foot in a childish and impatient manner.  
“Sorry bro, she’s had it kind of rough.” He stood up and I sat up straight and moved so that the boys could sit if they wished. “Pap, this is our uh… house guest, Helvetica.” He motioned to his brother. “Helvetica, this is Papyrus.”  
“Wowie! I haven’t seen a new face in Snowdin in quite a while!” The tall monster gasped and looked over my form. “Is that a wedding dress? Did you get married?” He was sure excitable, this one, and I couldn’t help but giggle.  
“Oh, well… Almost.” I answered and tried to look cheerful. “I got lost and… Ended up here.” I informed and Papyrus’ expression betrayed his worry, and sadness for the loss of my wedding.  
“Oh no! Sans, we have to help her find her way home!” He babbled at his brother, moving his glove covered hands as if it further insist.  
Sans watched with an amused expression before nodding his agreement. “I’ll see what Alphys can do, okay? Calm down, Pap.”  
“Until then, can she stay with us? Please?” Papyrus begged, as if he were the one to find me.  
“Er… okay, sure.” Sans chuckled and glanced up at his brother. “I’m gonna go call Alphys, so, you guys play nice. I’m just going outside.”  
Papyrus sat on the opposite side of the couch and I smiled at him, bowing my head slightly. “It is nice to meet you, Helvetica!” He chattered and then started to go on a tangent about his own clothing, which consisted of a large metal chest piece that seemed to encase his entire ribcage and his shoulders, a red cape that seemed well loved, and a piece of armor for his pelvis.  
I smiled politely, nodding along to his words. It was uplifting just to be in the same room as this young man, his large smile and expressive sockets gave him so much life.  
“And that’s why Undyne is training me to be part of the royal guard!” He beamed and jutted out his chin slightly.  
“Very cool, Papyrus.” I mumbled, as if by reflex, I found that the hoop skirt was becoming uncomfortable, but it would be wrong of me to complain. I didn’t have anything else to wear anyway.  
“Really? Y-you think so?” Papyrus asked, grinning at me and then, somehow, his sockets closed and he pushed out his chest triumphantly. “Of course you think so! I am the Great Papyrus!” He concluded without giving me time to answer. I couldn’t help but smile, and reach out to pat the skeleton’s shoulder.  
“You seem very nice.” I told him and he smiled back. He was a precious child, even though he looked to be much older than he acted, I guess you can’t really tell with skeletons.  
Sans walked back in and closed the door behind him.  
“Alphys said it sounds like your memories will come back on their own, slowly, so… Nothing to worry about there. She mentioned something about wanting to meet you, maybe see how you react to some stuff.” He looked between Papyrus and I. “So, we can go to hot land tomorrow, if ya want.”  
“Oh, sure, that sounds like fun. Alphys must be like… a doctor?” I asked.  
He shrugged. “Something like that.” He sat on the floor between Papyrus and I and leaned against the couch, his hands in his pockets. He leaned his head back and closed his sockets, leaving me to ponder how exactly a skeleton closes his eye sockets. “We should also get that dress sized, your ribs are showing.”  
I went to argue that my ribs were perfectly covered, but as I glanced down at my chest there they were, not many of them, just the top four or so. “Oh my god… I guess I should get this taken in.” I muttered and Sans shrugged.  
“Well, until then, I probably have some shorts or something that’ll fitcha fine.” He offered.  
“I’m… a woman, women don’t wear pants.” I muttered and crossed my arms, indignified that he would even ask I mean, please. He chuckled and shook his head.  
“You’re showing your age there, kiddo.” He opened one eye lazily and smirked at me.  
“Sans! That’s very rude!” Papyrus gasped and turned towards me. “Excuse him, he’s not really a people person.” He narrowed his eye sockets at his brother and then smiled at me.  
“He’s fine.” I laughed and Sans shrugged. “He’s been very kind, so I suppose a quip here and there won’t really bother me.”  
“So, pants or nah?” Sans asked again, and I found my face, yet again, warm with blush. “I’m sure I’ve got a spare shirt somewhere too.”  
“Yes please.” I muttered and he sighed and hefted himself to his feet, before turning to offer his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet and lead me to his room, up stairs at the end of the hallway.  
He opened the door and paused. “Listen, I’m gonna have to ask you to wait out here.” He insisted and so I leaned against the wall and waited for him to return. There were some odd noises, but other than that, the wait was uneventful.  
He returned with similar shorts to the ones he was wearing, and an identical white shirt and pressed them into my hands.  
“Where am I supposed to change?” I asked, brows raised.  
“Pap’s room is by the stairs, he won’t mind.” And then he walked back down the hall and down stairs, giving me no choice but to walk into Papyrus’ room and change. After I brought the sleeves down from my shoulders, the dress fell around my feet. The hoopskirt had caught awkwardly around my pelvis and I had to wiggle it free and shimmy it down my legs.  
The shorts and shirt were a lot simpler and more comfortable to wear, for sure. I had to tighten the strings on the shorts to get them to fit my slightly narrower hips, but otherwise no work was required on my part. I tore a piece of chiffon fabric from my dress and used it to carefully gather my vines behind my head.  
While I was walking down the stairs, legs and vines exposed below the knee, Sans glanced up. “You look like a completely different girl.” He noted and smiled at me, his eyes lingering a little before turning to the strange box against the wall. He was watching something on it.  
I couldn’t help but smile and bow my head as I finished my decent. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.” I mumbled and he looked up again.  
“Who said it wasn’t?” He teased and Papyrus nodded his agreement.  
“Casual looks nice on you!” He insisted and I laughed.  
“Thank you both, it is… definitely a lot more comfortable.” I admitted and walked to sit on the couch once again, finding that Sans had, again, elected to sit on the floor. As if three skeletons could crowd a couch, but okay, sure.  
We watched ‘Television Shows’ apparently something that had been invented in my absence. It was a weird, moving metal thing doing a bunch of different things that I really didn’t care for; but Papyrus had this giant smile plastered across his face and I couldn’t find it in myself to speak up.  
We watched until Papyrus was dozing, his head leaned against the back of the couch and his mouth open wide. Sans made him go to bed and we watched for a little while longer. I spread out on the couch once more, and Sans absentmindedly combed my ivy with his fingers as we watched silently. After the show was finished he sighed and turned off the television. “I should head to bed.” He muttered and I clasped his hand with my own.  
“Please don’t go, I don’t want to be alone.” I muttered, embarrassed by the weakness in my words, my face warm. He chuckled and patted the top of my head.  
“Kay.” He mumbled and went upstairs to grab his pillow and blanket. When he came back, he laid out on the floor, the television was off, we were sitting in the dark. I reached down and took his hand in mine. “You doin’ okay?” His eyes were closed, but there was a soft glow, probably from the lights that shone from mine.  
“Not really… I don’t want to sleep. I’ve been sleeping for so long, or at least, that’s what it felt like.” His hand gripped mine and I smiled a little.  
“Does it hurt?” He asked thoughtfully.  
“Dying? I wouldn’t know, I don’t remember. Being dead was like… sleep, the kind where you’re not dreaming, wrapped in that quiet black blanket. It’s… lonely.” I noted and he nodded slowly.  
“Well, let’s hope ya don’t have to go through that again anytime soon.” He muttered sleepily. Then there was silence, his fingers locked with mine. After awhile, his snoring filled the air and I managed to fall asleep.


	3. The Problem is Humanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our lovely protagonist gets a check up, and is warned against trusting plants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this chapter was so delayed! It seems life caught me by surprise again. x:

_Green eyes, my eyes. Beautiful and full of life, soft face. Sharp jaw, quick tongue. Measurements for new dresses, my mother’s eyes training on me like I was the problem. I twirl and hum as the seamstress struggles to measure me._  
_“Helvetica!” It was not my name, but it was. I look up and she is scowling. I bring my feet to a stop and stand up straight. She hates me, she hates everyone, but me in particular because I will not bend to her will._  
_Sebastian slinks into the room, bruised cheek, how I wish to kiss it away. Our eyes do not meet. Our secret promise is a secret still. I see him smile from the corner of my eye and cannot help but smile myself, infectious as always._  
_My mother is yelling, something about a proper lady, but I’m not listening. I don’t care because my generation will change her rules, someday._

I woke up to the light streaming in over my face, when I opened my eyes Sans was still laying against the couch with his fingers wrapped around mine. He was still snoring loudly, a little more relaxed than he had been. I watched him as he slept, it felt odd, but at least he had chosen to lay beside me, so seeing him asleep was… Half not my fault.  
I closed my eyes and listened to him snore, once in awhile he would pause and shift or groan in his sleep. I don’t know how much time passed as I flirted with sleep and found patterns in Sans’ snoring, but when he finally woke up I was feeling great.  
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” I giggled and he glanced back at me. He was kind of squinting, probably still tired. The soft light that came from the window washed over his face and he gave me a gentle smile. I reached up and rubbed the outside of my eyelid, as if rubbing sleep from it.  
“Mornin’, how’d you sleep?” He yawned, sitting up and stretching.  
“I slept okay, no more nightmares, for now.” I laughed and sat up. A few strands of ivy fell into my face, probably pulled free by my shifting. It was snowing outside, how it could snow in a mountain? Then again, most of this would’ve been deemed impossible had I never come here. “How did you sleep?”  
“Well, that’s good, at least.” He rubbed the back of his hands against his eyes and sighed. “Pretty well, I guess. I could probably sleep more, if we didn’t have shit to do.” He chuckled and stood up. “Kinda a full schedule.”  
I nodded and stood up after a moment. “So… where to first?” I stretched, hearing my spine crack while not under layers of tissue was alarming. So alarming, infact, that I let out an indignified screech and jumped.  
Sans couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. “Are you a firecracker, cuz y--”  
“You stop that right now, don’t even.” I mumbled and sighed.  
“You’re _crackin’_.” He snickered and I let out an agonized groan. “Well, we should probably head to Alphys first, cuz it’ll probably take the most time.” He started towards the door and I really didn’t have much choice but to follow him. “We’ll come back and grab the dress later.”  
We marched out in the snow, (he didn’t even give me a chance to protest wearing the shorts in public) and I don’t know how but, we crossed into a warm place surrounded mostly by magma very quickly. I didn’t ask, I didn’t want to ask.  
We walked over to a big, shiny metal building and Sans knocked.  
“Wh-who is it?” A feminine voice asked cautiously from behind it.  
“Alphy, it’s just me.” Sans chuckled and the door slid open to reveal a very pudgy yellow lizard woman. She was short, wearing a lab coat with glasses on her snout.  
I don’t know that I had ever met a female doctor, but if Sans trusted her, I would too.  
“H-hey S-S-Sans… S-so… this.. must be…” She was staring at me, but I bowed my head and kept quiet.  
“Yup, Helvetica, this is Alphys. Alphys, Helvetica.” He introduced us and I curtsied. She seemed confused by the gesture and laughed nervously.  
“A-alright, w-we-well… Come in…” She stepped aside and shuffled ahead. The lab itself didn’t seem to as big as the building outside, but she probably had private quarters somewhere. I tried to take in as much as I could, books, equipment, a large screen similar to the TV in the home of Sans and Papyrus.  
“So… What… e-exactly… Am I doing, again?” She asked, and laughed, the same nervous laugh as before.  
“We’re just tryin’ to figure out what’s goin’ on. Ya know, her soul, uh… Why she doesn’t remember everything, why she doesn’t speak like she died a long time ago.” Sans explained and Alphys walked towards a table that seemed to have been moved so that I could be examined.  
“O-okay… I-I c-can do that.” She motioned to have me sit on the table, and I did. “I-I n-need you… to… Uh…”  
“She needs to see your soul, maybe she can figure out why it’s behavin’ weird.” Sans explained for her and I frowned.  
“Um… but you said…” He cut me off, held up his hand to stop me.  
“She’s a professional, she just wants to figure out what’s wrong.” He assured, and dropped his hand.  
I sucked in a deep breath and reached under the shirt, up into my own rib cage. I felt around gingerly for the gelatinous mass. When I touched, it startled me, it was soft and gooey, and I could feel it like a physical part of me. I took it from it’s spot in my ribcage and presented it to Alpys and Sans had been right, it was purple.  
It almost floated just above my palms, hovered. I was absorbed by the beautiful glow that it carried. “What are souls made of?”  
“Uh, well…” Sans laughed and turned to Alphys. “This is your area of expertise, friend.”  
She sighed, taking a magnifying glass to look over it closely. “W-well… the uh… physical appearance… is made of ectoplasm for… e-everyone. M-m-monster souls… are weaker tha-than the human souls… Wh-which carry Determination. Y-your primary trait… o-often reflects… i-i-in the color.” She explained, set the magnifying glass down on the table and grabbed a flashlight.  
“I-I’m go-going to… sh-shine this li-light in your eye… o-okay?” She mumbled and I nodded and held still as she looked into my sockets. “Y-your pr-primary… t-t-trait appea-ears to… be… Perseverance.” She looked over the vines on my skull, tapped against my forehead.  
I decided it best not to ask anymore questions, if I did, we would probably be here all day. I let her check whatever it was she wanted, or needed to check. Sans was sitting on the floor, probably dozing off.  
“S-so… Th-the reason you… d-don’t remember… is… that… y-your brain… rotted.” She concluded and Sans chuckled from the floor. “It’s… it’s gone… S-so… yo-your soul… is… l-like a backup… i-it’s stored… a-all your memories… a-and s-so as not to… over...whelm you… i-it’s releasing them… slowly.” She explained. “Y-you… can… put it… b-back now.” As she was speaking I placed my soul back in my ribs for safe keeping. “I-it a-a-also… pi-picked up on… sp-speech wh-while it… waited. So… that’s… wh-why you sp-speak… almost normally.”  
“So, it’s acting like a hard drive?” Sans asked from below, and she nodded quickly. “Kay, makes sense. Any idea if there’s… a way to trigger the memories? Cuz, she woke up screamin’ last time and… If we get it out of the way now, might be a little easier.”  
“O-oh… Well… I-I don’t… th-think that… w-would be… w-wise.” Alphys admitted and smiled nervously.  
“Alright, so… I just keep makin’ sure I try to wake her up.” He muttered and she looked apologetic.  
“I-it’s all… I can… do.” She was fidgeting, her fingers dancing over each other. “Um… C-can… I talk to you… over… over there?” She asked and when he nodded and stood, they shuffled across the room.  
They had to be talking about me, there was no way that they weren’t. Why would they leave otherwise? I scooted back on the table and brought my knees to my chest. I heard the name “Asgore,” come from Alphys as I tried to be still and quiet so I could eavesdrop, and then saw Sans’ eyes open wide, and a grin spread across his face.  
He was suggesting she not… do… something. I could hear “Bad time” and “she’s… us” come from his mouth. It was kind of odd, the way he spoke around his teeth. Alphys looked conflicted, and pleaded her case. I heard “problem” and “violent.” Sans ended the argument by saying “not… use” and “different.”  
She was shaking just a little, but Sans looked… Cold and confident, collected. I wondered why she was afraid of him, he was kinda a goof, just a little taller than she was and probably too lazy to actually fight. She backed down and they shuffled back over slowly.  
“S-sorry about… th-that.” She smiled, more nervous than before. “E-everyth-thing is… fine.”  
“We’re gonna get out of here, Alphys, thanks. Got some other stuff to do, ya know.” Sans told her before giving me time to say anything, he helped me off the table and grabbed my forearm, not in a demanding way, but more… Protective. He was upset.  
“Y-yeah, ha-have a good day.” She mumbled and walked us to the door. She let us out and Sans seemed like he was feeling less angry.  
“Everything okay?” I asked as he started pacing forward. I refused to move, so he only got two steps before he stopped, a sigh escaping him.  
“She means well.” Was all he said. We stood there in awkward silence, my refusing to move and his refusing to speak creating a thick tension in the air. “C’mon, we’ve gotta go.” He finally sighed and I raised my brows. He waited for awhile, looking back at me pleadingly. “What do you want?”  
“What do you mean “She means well?”” I asked, a prickling feeling crawling up my arms.  
He sighed. “Someday, when you’ll understand, I’ll tell you.” He looked forward. “So, until then, we better go get your dress taken in.”  
I thought about staying still, but crept forward. I had no idea what I was doing down here, and he was the only person that I knew I could probably trust. “Okay.” We traveled back to Snowdin, Sans’ hand dropped from my arm, and we happened to run into Papyrus.  
“Brother! Helvetica!” He called, loud and excited, running towards us. I smiled because he was grinning ear to ear, and he was infectious. How could you be sad with such a happy soul around. “Undyne said if I could catch a human I could part of the Royal Guard!” He boasted, one hand against the armor covered side of his pelvis. “Then I would be cool, like her! And everyone will love me!”  
Sans chuckled, and nodded a long to his brother’s story. “Cool, bro. Did you learn anything useful today?” He asked, already seeming calmer now that Papyrus was around.  
“We made even better spaghetti than last week! I’m going to make it for you and Helvetica tonight, aren’t you excited?” He bounced up and down, hands clasped together.  
“Can’t wait, but we’ve gotta go see if someone can fix up Hell’s dress, so we’ll be back ASAP, kay?” He patted the side of Papyrus’ armor as we walked by and Papyrus waved before he continued on his way, a bounce in his step.  
We went back to the house and picked up my dress and the hoopskirt.  
“That looks uncomfortable.” Sans mumbled as we started back down stairs. “Isn’t it hard to walk in that?”  
“Nah, comes second nature for girls like me, I guess.” I told him with a smile.  
“And the purpose is what, exactly?” He asked, trudging back into the snow.  
“Well, I would assume the purpose so that the dress fans out correctly.” I mumbled and tilted my head up slightly.  
“I think the purpose of it is to trap your legs.” He teased, winking at me.  
We ended up back in the warm place, Sans mumbled something about Hotland as we walked into a dark tunnel.  
“Hey, Muffet, you around?” He called into the tunnel, glancing around at some of the spider webs. “I got a favor to ask!” He paused and kept me behind him as a woman of lavender complexion approached. She had five eyes and six arms, wearing something pinkish peach, with adorable tiny pig tails in her hair. “Helvetica, this is Miss Muffet, Muffet, this is Helvetica.”  
I curtsied and she giggled, dropping just as low as I.  
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” She asked, looking between us. Sans nudged me forward and I, albeit reluctantly, handed over the clothes I had fallen in.  
“She needs some clothes fixed, can you help?” Sans explained as she took the items in her hands and looked them over. “She found them, and they were just way too big.”  
Muffet nodded along to his words, she had the shoulders pinched and was holding holding the dress out in all it’s glory. “Do you want it repaired or just taken in?” She asked, looking up at me with raised eyebrows.  
“Just taken in, maybe laundered if you don’t mind doing that as well.” I watched her careful eyes, and she hummed.  
“Sans, you know I need payment.” She reached out with her free hand closest to him. “Five thousand should do.”  
“Jeeze, Muffet, that’s spendy.” He sighed and reached into his pockets. “I don’t have nearly enough to cover it, anyway we could work out a deal?” He pulled out a small pouch of jingling coins and she looked over it.  
“Perhaps, I don’t want to take everything you have, deary.” She giggled and paused to think. “Yes, let me see… Perhaps, you might sell some items from our bake sale? You could make the entire amount that way.” She nodded slowly. “Yes, in fact, I think that is a great idea!”  
Sans sighed his displeasure but shrugged. “Yeah, why not? I could sell them alongside my hot dogs.” He mumbled and Muffet shooed him.  
“I need to mark a few things on the dress, out out.” She insisted and grabbed my arm as I tried to leave. “Not, you deary.” She slid the dress over my head and started to attach little pieces of web. She used these tiny threads to gather the fabric until it rested comfortably against my chest, my hips, and it was sucked in a bit in the gap between the two things.  
“So,” She sighed as she was doing this. “I’ve never seen you in Hotland before, or with Sans, for that matter, are you new around?” She pulled and tugged, huffing just a little.  
“New, yes.” I tried to think of a cohesive story, Sans was probably better at them than I was. “There are lots of the underground that no one has discovered yet. I got lost and ended up in Snowdin. No real memory of where I came from, I must’ve taken a fall.”  
She nodded, I could feel her just behind me, nipping and tucking fabric. “Well, I hope you remember soon, deary, I would like to see these other places some day. But I think we all really dream about going above ground some day, I don’t think humans will take kindly to someone like me.”  
I frowned a little and nodded. Up until I woke up as a skeleton, a day ago, I wouldn’t have taken kindly to seeing a monster, Muffet probably would have frightened me to death. I prayed silently that humanity had changed in my absence, that maybe, they could accept these creatures.  
“Are you alright?” Muffet asked, sounding concerned.  
“Just a little homesick, I guess, hard to be homesick when you don’t know where home is.” I winced as she tried to make the fabric a little more snug.  
“It must be, but you’ll find it again some day.” She assured.  
“Are you fixing it right now?” I asked, trying to change the subject so that I didn’t slip up.  
“Oh, yes, I figured since I had you here I might as well. It shouldn’t take much longer now. Six arms make things much easier.” She informed and hummed a little.  
I tried not to imagine how much she had to hack at my beautiful wedding gown to get it to fit my skeletal form, I didn’t want to ask. “I really like your hair.” I told her, and she giggled, it was a soft, girlish noise.  
“Oh, thank you deary. I’m very fond of it myself.” She informed. “Yours is very nice, I really like that the flowers are coming in. Purple is definitely your color.” And coming from a lavender skinned creature from her, it was quite the compliment. I felt her lace up and tighten a corset behind me.  
“It’s easier than buttons I think.” She commented and untied the dress to strip me of it once again. “And the other… thing.” She grabbed the hoopskirt and had me step into it, lined it up properly to where the skirt would sit. “This we may have to have someone else look at.” She mused and started bending the metal in her hands testingly.  
It wasn’t even close to being able to sit as it was. “So, why did you make Sans leave?” I asked and she looked up at me, her dark eyes glinting in dim light of the cave.  
“Oh, because he tends to speak for people, and I wanted to hear it from you, deary.” She explained and then seemed to get an idea. She took her spider silk and attached it to the supports before constructing another hoop that could attach to itself to fit to my spine. “There!”  
I spun in it and found that the material was strong and sturdy. “Wow, thank you so much!” I told her and she unhooked it to let me step out of it. She handed it to me with a bright, fanged grin.  
“I can’t do the washing here, but I’m sure Sans’ will help you.” She assured and lead me back the way we had come in. “Let me know anytime you need anything.”  
And then she retreated into the shadows once more as I stepped into the bright warmth of the hot land once more, Sans was sitting beside the entrance of the cave and seemed to have had a mishap with a few ketchup packets. His face and his hands colored red with the tomato sauce, his usual grin turned downward as he tried to lick the sticky substance from his fingers. He didn’t seem like he was going to address me anytime soon, so I made a coughing noise (can skeletons cough?) to get his attention.  
He looked up, blue tongue half way up his second finger. “Oh.” He chuckled and wiggled his fingers. “Guess I’ve been caught,” He winked and grinned once more. “Red handed.” I couldn’t help but cringe and shudder at the magnitude of this terrible joke.  
“Oh… Okay, so, where to now?” I muttered, trying to recover as Sans giggled at his own joke, obviously pleased with my discomfort. I looked up at him as he wiped ketchup from his face and scooped it into his mouth, seeming to think over the question.  
“I need to go work on selling hotdogs, and Muffet’s donuts. So I’ll take you home to hang out with Papyrus and I’ll be home before dark.” He assured and started walking back the way we had come. “While I’m gone, do me a favor, don’t talk to any… flowers, you may see.” His grin fell once again. “Specifically this buttercup, he’s kinda annoying, really small.”  
“Why?” I asked, looking ahead, mostly to scan for this flower.  
“Oh, he’s… trouble. Just, trust me, okay?” He smiled again and patted my shoulder. “Once he sees you, he probably won’t _leaf_ you alone.” I groaned quietly and scowled up at the very pleased skeleton.  
“Right, fine, no talking to the annoying flower.” I agreed as snow started crunching beneath our feet. We were in front of the house before I knew it, and he turned around and disappeared from sight even sooner.


	4. Introductions Best Left out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helvetica makes a possibly unfortunate acquaintance, is attacked with terrible spaghetti, and awful puns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I'm hoping to be able to upload regularly soon! Hope you enjoy the new chapter of nonsense!!

It was quiet for all of two minutes, and then there was the sound of crunching snow, and then Papyrus screaming. “WAIT NO, SANS.” But he didn’t quite make it to stop his brother, instead he paused beside me, huffing in dissatisfaction. “We’re supposed to have spaghetti!” He seemed disappointed.  
“He’s only gone for a little while.” I laughed and patted the tall skeleton’s armor affectionately. “He promised to be back before dark.” He seemed to brighten up and nodded animatedly.  
“Then I, the Great Papyrus! Should introduce you to my many friends!” He offered, no, insisted and grabbed my hand to drag me along.  
“Papyrus!” I screeched and tried to dig my feet into the ground. If I was going with him, then I was at least putting my stuff down first.  
****  
He introduced me to the residence of Snowdin, various people of all different shapes and sizes. There was a child with a reptilian type body but no arms, a few people who seemed a cross between people and bunnies, a few dogs of a similar kind, one said he’d like to be put on a leash. I couldn’t help but giggle.  
He refused to introduce me to Grillby, said that Sans would be so upset if he didn’t get to. At least the brother’s were considerate of each other’s feelings. I cringed at the thought as Papyrus paused in the square to decide if there were anymore of his friends for me to meet. “I think there is only one left! He’s super cool, just like me!” He began as he toted me off back towards Sans’ sentry station, but turned down towards a hill side. “Flowey? Hey, Flowey!” He called out and glanced around. “Huh, he’s usually around here, somewhere.” He glanced around, rubbing his chin with his gloved hand.  
“Papyrus,” A voice asked from near his feet, high pitched and echoing slightly. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” It was a small buttercup, yellow petals and a pale face. He hadn’t been there seconds ago, so it was a bit startling. I stumbled back a little and tilted my head down to look at this thing that came up to my ankle.  
“Well… No, not really.” Papyrus mused after a while, looking down at his boots and frowning. But it only lasted for a fraction of a second before he tilted his head back up with a big smile. “No matter! You’re my best friend, Flowey!”  
Flowey sighed his irritation before shifting his tiny, cute face to look at me. Alright, I knew Sans had warned me about a buttercup but it couldn’t be this little guy, right? “Oh!” He perked himself up a little. “Howdy! I’m Flowey the flower!” He smiled a bit, seeming to try to understand what I was.  
“Flowey, this is Helvetica, she’s come to stay with Sans and myself! She is also very cool, for I, the great Papyrus, only have the coolest friends!” He explained and Flowey tilted himself to one side.  
“Oh! So you’re new huh? It’s been awhile since we’ve had a new face!” He remarked and I thought I saw a glint in his tiny eyes. “Well, I’m sure I’ll see you around! Golly, it sure is small in the underground!”  
I nodded a little and smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.” I peered up at Papyrus and then back down at the small buttercup, while something wasn’t quite right, he seemed nice enough and he was super cute and small, so everything was fine, right? Maybe Sans was wrong.  
“Oh no!” Papyrus gasped when he realized how far we had wandered. “I need to go home and start spaghetti or we’re going to get dragged to grillby’s! We’ll see you later, Flowey!” Papyrus called, already dragging me back towards the house.  
Such an excitable skeleton. Odd sentences like these were bound to become apart of my everyday life, an odd thought but true none the less.  
“So, what do you think? Isn’t he cool?” Papyrus asked and began chattering away about the small creature and some of the facts he had learned about him, various mostly useless tidbits as we walked back to their home, it was kind of cute, reminded me of something that I didn’t quite remember. Brief flashes of my life before, a smaller boy with dark hair instead of Papyrus, bright fields instead of the cold snow. But it wasn’t real.  
By the time the past had stopped overlapping the present I was sat in front of the television, staring blankly at the floorboards. I was half wondering where I was and half trying to figure out what the awful smell coming from the kitchen was. “Papyrus?” I called, standing and finding him standing over the stove, cooking what was probably meant to be spaghetti, but was definitely not spaghetti.  
“You seemed to be really enjoying the show, so I thought I’d start on dinner! Sans should be home soon, he doesn’t spend a lot of time out.” Papyrus noted and looked back towards the door before smiling at me. “I hope you’re feeling better, you seemed really out of it on the walk home.”  
“Oh, yeah, just not feeling too great, I guess, lots going on.” I shrugged it off and smiled at him, he didn’t seem like he would understand, and Sans probably wouldn’t want him to. He seemed protective, more like a parent than a brother. “But it’ll get better.”  
I heard Sans whip open the door before I saw him, he didn’t seem to mind being loud. It made me jump, I nearly jumped out of my skin! (Bones?) “Oh, you’re back.” I laughed and he seemed to be taking in the smell and sight of the house before smiling at us.  
“Yup! I sold out and came home early, people must not’ve felt like cooking.” He shrugged and plopped down on the sofa.  
“I always feel like cooking!” Papyrus shouted as I made my way to sit with Sans.  
I sat near him, but not too close, I didn’t want either of us to be uncomfortable. “So,” I whispered.” “Are we actually going to have to eat that?”  
“Oh, probably, if you don’t form a tongue, it’s much easier.” He responded, matching my tone. He opened his mouth wide (the first time I had actually seen him separate his teeth) to reveal the lack of glowing ecto-tongue. “No tongue, no taste.”  
“Right.” I had to remember that, that my magic, whatever it was that I possessed, tried to make me as close to my old body as it had remembered. I could change these things if I wanted to. “So, anything eventful happen?”  
“Not usually.” Sans chuckled. “A dog came running around, small, white, barked a lot, but that was about it.” He paused for a moment before turning towards me. “Pap introduced you to Flowey, didn’ he?”  
“Oh, yeah.” I sighed and rubbed the back of my skull absent-mindedly. “I didn’t have much choice, he wanted to introduce me to everyone in Snowdin! Besides Grillby, he said you would want to.”  
His grin shrank a little and he nodded. “He means well.” It seemed to be his go to phrase for things that weren’t right, but he wouldn’t tell me more, as per usual.  
“Dinner is ready!” Papyrus called and I reminded myself of Sans’ advice, it smelt horrible even from in the livingroom.  
****  
I ate a healthy portion of Papyrus’ not-spaghetti before he was satisfied that everyone had enjoyed themselves and we were allowed to sit and talk about the day's events. I told Papyrus I met Muffit and Alphys, he asked me about someone called Undyne, before recalling that he had been with them all day, and then about king Dreemurr. Sans told him not yet, and I saw his socket closest to me flinch, just a little.  
Sans made many unforgivable, terrible jokes, bringing Papyrus to a steaming silence.  
Papyrus told us about cooking with Undyne, and their over-all goofing off. It didn’t seem like royal guard training to me, but Papyrus was happy.  
It wasn’t long before he went up to bed and Sans went to find where Papyrus had hidden the pillows and blankets from the night before. I made a mental note to fold them up nicely and find them a place with Sans’ permission in the morning.  
He settled on the floor and I took my place on the couch, tonight we didn’t have to say much about it. He understood that for, well, “safety reasons” he had to stay down here with me. He started playing with the ivy on my head and sighed, it was a deep heavy sigh, and I wondered what burdens he carried that he couldn’t share with his brother, but I didn’t ask.  
“Do me a favor?” He began after a while.  
“Hm?”  
“Don’t hang around that flower, Flowey or whatever, okay? He’s dangerous.” He wasn’t pleading, simply informing, asking. “At least until you learn how to fight, okay?”  
“Okay.” I responded, so many questions floating around in my head, but it was like I had forgotten how to ask. So the silence overtook us again, for a good ten minutes, and then Sans broke it again. Hesitant, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He couldn’t stand the silence, but didn’t want to speak, either.  
“Helvetica?”  
“Hm?”  
“Did you remember anything?”  
I thought long and hard about it, did I really want to answer? “I did. In the night, I dreamed about my home, my mother. She wasn’t very kind, and my betrothed.” He snickered, and I felt him shift to take my hand.  
“Your age is showing, Hel.” He remarked before falling silent again.  
I giggled and closed my eyes. “Ah well, I’m sure it won’t be the last time. My betrothed, Sebastian? He was a servant, we must’ve been well off. She hit him a lot.” I frowned and squeezed his hands. “When Papyrus and I were coming back, I saw my brother, I think, in his stead, and fields instead of snow.”  
“Not very _ice_ of you to flash back near him.” He teased, snickering as I rolled my eyes behind closed sockets. And the he went quiet for awhile. Trying to decide if he wanted to ask his next question. “Do you miss him?”  
“I think so, I don’t remember much. Flashes, really, we were really close. I think my youngest brother and I were too.” I mumbled and I could hear him nod slowly. “Don’t wanna sleep?”  
“Not really.” He admitted and chuckled. “I’m pretty prone to night terrors sometimes, it _feels_ like a bad night, ya know?”  
“Wanna keep talking?”  
“Please.” He tried not to sound desperate, to sound cool instead of panicked but I knew how this went.  
“What were you and Papyrus like, as kids?” I asked and opened my eyes so I could turn on my side and look at him.  
“Ah, well, we had a pretty good dad, when we were little. He created us, you see, an experiment with human souls, I think, but he raised us like his own. I was better with magic, ya know? Pap was a sweet kid, couple years younger than me, sometimes he got picked on and I’d always stand up for him” I could see the outline of the smile on his skull.  “He made friends with Undyne early on, she was tough, but stood up for the weak. Sweet kid.  
“When I was old enough, Dad started taking me to the lab to work with him, and Alphys was his apprentice, told me I was very smart, I could do great things, and I believed him. We worked together awhile. Then things went south real fast, Dad was really stressed out, kept saying something about ‘it’s not right’ and ‘not good, not good’ he wasn’t sleeping, he wouldn’t eat.” He shook his head, frowning. “Got worse and worse til he… Well, he jumped into the core. That was it, no more dad. I told Pap he was on vacation, he still believes it.”  
I moved off the sofa to lay beside him and wrap my arms around him. “That must be really hard.” I whispered and he nodded against my shoulder, his fingers digging into the t-shirt on my back.  
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have told you.” He mumbled and sniffed. “You got enough problems, amirite?”  
I chuckled and shrugged. “What are friends for?” He held me for awhile before giggling. “Oh no.” I sighed and rolled my eyes, what terrible pun was coming now?  
“I hate _tibia_ bother.” He burst out laughing and turned on his back as I climbed onto the couch to escape his terrible jokes.  
“That’s it, I am done with you good night.”  
“What that didn’t tickle your _funny bone_?”  
“Goodnight Sans.”  
“C’mon, Hel! These are _humerous._ I can’t be getting _under your skin._ ”  
At least he bounced back really quick. “Sans noooo!!” I whined and covered my face with a pillow, not that it helped. “Please!”  
“Okay, I think I can go to sleep now, I’m feeling… _dead… tired_.” He snickered and turned over to go to sleep. I swore in silence that I would repay him this grave injustice, and then realized his puns were contagious, and swore not to do that.


	5. Training, Learning, Loathing, Forgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helvetica learns why humans are hunted, how to strike a blow, and that sometimes things seem worse than they are.

It was a rough night, Sans mumbled and shifted in his sleep often, and I was never quite sure if I was asleep or not, but otherwise it was uneventful. Papyrus was gone when I sat up, which meant that at some point I had been sleeping. Sans was still asleep, finally peaceful, his fingers gripping his pillow and his eyes no longer squeezed shut tightly, but gently, as if they could flutter open any moment. I decided against disturbing him and instead stepped over him and began folding up my bedding.   
It was a nice, small house, and the more I looked around the more I imagined the times the brothers might have had in this home, what had their father been like? I imagined he was tall, maybe like Papyrus, that he carried himself elegantly, as a royal scientist. Maybe he was something like Sans and Papyrus? But he could’ve also been very different. I pondered over this as I set the blanket on the back of the sofa and went into Papyrus’ room to change into my dress. I couldn’t live in Sans’ clothes forever. I left them in a heap by his door, as it was locked and I had been told not to enter that room.  
Back down stairs was the only option, and there I found the still sleeping Sans as I carefully draped myself across the couch. The repairs Muffet made seemed to be holding up well and I had nothing planned for the day, it seemed like it was going to be a quiet day. Maybe I could have some time to reflect and gather myself after all the things that had happened, that would be nice. I still didn’t know who I had been, but I was finding more out about myself everyday.  
It was a few hours before Sans lurched upright, panting but otherwise seeming well. He didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so I didn’t ask. I smiled at him when he looked back, his normal grin fallen flat and sweat, an off blue color, rolled down his skull.  
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He muttered and stood up.  
“You didn’t.” I assured and he nodded, pressing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “You okay?”   
“Oh yeah, fine.” He assured, shrugging and cocking his head to one side. “I don’t usually work this hard, but I can’t exactly leave you defenseless… I think ya need to fight today.”   
“Like… fist fighting?” I asked, confused as he chuckled. I felt the warm blush before I realized I was embarrassed for being wrong.  
“No, if it were that simple it wouldn’t be so bad.” He sighed and motioned for me to follow him outside. Trudging in the snow was going to be a theme, it seemed. Not that the cold really bothered me, but it was odd to be surrounded by it all the time.  
We walked back towards the large door, where I met Toriel, and then in between the trees. It took a great deal of care to follow him, tree roots made a particular difficult obstacle course. He turned towards me in a clearing. “I’m going to train you how we fight down here in the underground, ya need to be really, really careful, okay? If it weren’t for that flower I wouldn’t even bother, but…” He held his hand out in front of him.

_ You are challenged to a sparring match by Sans. _

It appeared in front of me as text, or maybe it was a part of my imagination?    
“Alright, cool. So, monsters don’t normally fight each other, but that flower.” He frowned and looked off to his left. “Is… trouble. Sometimes we get humans too, and they can be kinda dangerous if ya don’t know how to fight.” He grinned again, seeming to get comfortable. “Your turn first, check my stats. Just focus.”  
It was making a conscious decision without there being a choice in front of me. It seemed difficult at first, but it really wasn’t.

_ [ACTION] _ _   
_

_ [CHECK] _

_ *COMIC SANS- ATK 1 DEF 1 _

_ *It’s your friend, Sans. _

“Good, good.” Sans chuckled and something in my chest pinged, and turned blue. It was my soul, suddenly dark blue. “Okay, so now it’s my turn, and I’m going to attack, but you should be okay. I’m gonna fling you around a little and if you jump as you hit the solid surface, you’ll dodge the attack, this might hurt.”   
I nodded, readying myself for the incoming attack. He flung me up, and I screeched reflexively, when it felt like I hit a wall, though I was sure it was only a large branch, I pushed away from it, bones appeared and one managed to jut up into my hand, causing me a great deal of pain, but no real damage. I couldn’t concentrate to look, Sans was sending me back to the ground and it took a great deal of effort to spring myself away from the floor, and then either side. I was left panting, but doing okay.  
I seemed to have broken a finger, hit had what seemed to be a cut into the bone, and a black tar like substance was leaking from it. It was sticky and unpleasant, but otherwise not too bothersome. “Is this normal?” I asked, holding it up to him. He nodded.  
“Smear the tar over the wound, it’ll heal minor surface scratches over time. Kinda like a human scab I guess.” He shrugged and put his hands back in his pockets. “This time, you’re going to have to attack me.”   
“I’m gonna what?” I asked, running my thumb over my forefinger to seal it with the sticky tar. “Are you kidding?”   
“Nah, you’re gonna try and materialize some bones for me, I’ll dodge, it’ll be fine!” He assured, leaning back on his heels. “Ya aren’t scared, are ya?”

“No!” I snapped back and sighed, I could see his soul in his chest, and I concentrated on the idea of fighting him.

_ *You feel like he is going easy on you. _

_ [FIGHT] _

Right, bones for him to dodge. I imagined them, some long some short, from the way he demonstrated it appeared the enemy had to be able to dodge, long, short, and with spaces gave him just as much chance as anyone else. He dodged easily.

“Alright, not bad. Now, I’m going to mercy you, you need to accept it so this doesn’t go on anymore, okay? Sparring is over.” I nodded and took a deep breath.

_ *Sans is sparing you. _

I thought about ending the hug, about embracing him and closing my eyes.

_ [MERCY] _

“That’s it, a turn based system.” Sans chuckled and walked over to me. “Not bad, amirite?”  
I shrugged and smiled. “If it’s what works, it’s what works.” He nodded and started back towards the road.”So, do you have any really neat attacks?”   
“I guess so, I mean, I’ve got these big floating skulls that shoot lasers.” He told me, looking back to wiggle his brow. “They’re pretty cool.”   
“You’re teasing me.” I laughed and he shook his head.  
“Pap insists on walking and bathing them regularly.” He chuckled and shrugged. “You’ll see them at some point.”  
It was a quiet walk back to the sentry station, where he seemed to have a few bottles of ketchup, and a blanket on the floor.  
“You were sleeping when I got here.” I laughed and hopped up to sit on the counter, my legs swaying. “Actually sleeping, not just faking.” He chuckled and shrugged, snagging a bottle of ketchup.   
“Yeah, I sleep more than this usually, so much to do now that you’re here. Most of the time I sit watch for humans.” He paused, giving a half hearted chuckle and started to drink straight from the bottle. Odd, but still not the oddest thing I had seen here. “I need to tell you… about why that is, I guess? Usually Tori explains to the kids, but she didn’t, you aren’t a human.” He shrugged, huffing and looking away at the ground.  
“There’s a reason?” I asked, curious and afraid at the sudden shift in moods.  
“So, monsters were locked away down here, humans wanted the world to squabble over to themselves, I guess. Locked us away with some mages, made a barrier, and told us… Only the Power of Seven Human Souls could break it. A kid fell, became close friends with the prince, got sick, died, and the prince took the kid to see the field of buttercups one last time. The prince was attacked and mortally wounded. Fell back underground, and turned to dust.” He explained, stopping only to sigh and when he needed a moment. His shoulders slumped and he seemed more tired just having talked about it. “So now we bring every human to Asgore, king Dreemur, and collect their souls.”  
I sat in the silence, absorbing the information. The tension was so thick I felt suspended, trapped. “So… That’s what Alphys wanted?” I asked, looking up at him, my sockets felt… wet. I reached up and found purple tears, like someone had diluted my soul in water. “To see if I could be… used to break this barrier.”   
He looked away, kicked at the ground softly. “Hel, she means well. She doesn’t know better, she’s afraid.”  
“How many?” I demanded, and I felt the surface of my bones prickle. “How many souls do you have?”    
He hesitated, sighed and his eyes went dim. “We have six. Listen, it’s nothing to concern yourself with. Just… Don’t trust humans, but don’t tell anyone what you are, okay?”   
“Six? Six humans have come here to die and no one else knows?”   
“Do you think we asked for it to be this way?”   
“Well you don’t have to  _ kill  _ them, Sans!” I was shaking, angry, crying. My whole form could’ve burst at any moment.  
“We don’t have a choice!” He spat and his sockets went completely dark. “Do you think I like explaining to Papyrus where the kids go, huh? Do you think I like explaining that our friends are sometimes dead because of that human? I don’t like this anymore than you!” He was shaking, blue tears down his face that I didn’t understand.  
“Oh, is that supposed to make me feel better?” I laughed and stood up off the counter.   
“You people did this to yourselves, we’re just doing what we have to! I don’t believe what the others do, but I can’t blame them either!” He didn’t get closer, but I could see his left eye sparking, like blue and yellow electricity.  
“So, what? A human comes down here and I’m just supposed to let it go?”   
“I made a promise to try and protect them, Hel, but I can’t.” He muttered and crossed his arms across his chest, sniffling, not that our noses ran. “I never can. You don’t think I know the weight of the blood I carry on my hands, but I do.”  
“Do you?” I asked and he sighed.  
“Listen… You’ll understand, someday. They just… They mean well.”  
I was getting tired of hearing that.  
I shook my head and walked away from the sentry station. “I… need some time. Maybe we  _ both  _ do.” I muttered and he shrugged but didn’t move. “I’ll see you back at home.”  
I trudged through the snow, though it was not cold, I shuddered and shook as I approached the town and wandered through town, not completely focused. In no time I was standing in front of the library and walked in to sit down and read. Maybe I could take my mind off it, at least for awhile.  
I stayed and read every book I put my hands on until dark.  
I felt silly for arguing now, obviously Sans couldn’t argue with the King, but still, this all seemed so wrong and weird to me. It was a short walk back to the house and I knocked, mid-way through said knock, the door was flung open. I was lifted off my feet into the arms of a certain tall, eccentric skeleton.  
“Ohh! I thought you were gone forever!” Papyrus told me loudly. “I am so glad you are you here, Sans told me you might be going on vacation, but I have come up with many many reason why you should stay! One, I am now your best friend, and I am great! Two, if you leave now, you may never find your home, Helvetica! That sure would be a shame! Please, please, plllleeeeeaaase!” The skeleton explained and begged in various pitches. “Please stay.”   
“Sorry.” Sans chuckled from somewhere behind him. “I didn’t think you’d stop by.” He admitted sheepishly but didn’t approach. He was probably sure I’d give him up on his lie, but I played along.  
“I was just sad, I’m sure! I feel much better now that I’ve been reminded Papyrus is my best friend, I think I’ll stay.” I assured Papyrus and awkwardly patted him on the back until he set me down.  
“Oh thank you!” He chuckled and smile. “After all, with my help, could never not find your home!”  
I smiled at him and patted his armoured shoulder. “Thanks, Pap.” I went to walk past him but Sans stopped me.  
“Hey… Could we talk outside for a minute? MTT is on all night, we can come in and watch when we’re done.” He offered and I nodded. He ushered me outside and promised Pap we’d be right back. I prepared myself for yelling, for “this place can be dangerous” for… Everything and anything.  
“I’m sorry.” Except that. “Of course you’re upset, of course you don’t… You weren’t here. I promise that it’s not what you think.” He muttered and smiled at me slowly. “Still friends?”   
“No, that’s really… Big of you, I appreciate it, thank you.” I murmured and smiled back at him. “Can I… Hug you?” I felt my face get warm but he nodded and pretended not to acknowledge my blush as he folded me in his arms. It was nice, his hoodie carried the smell of the underground, and he was surprisingly warm. He sighed and leaned on me a little before we stopped embracing.  
“So, let’s go see what MTT is doing, huh?” He asked before leading me back inside. Papyrus was watching intently as Sans and I took our spots on the couch, he hardly made it clear that he knew we were there. “Must be good.” Sans chuckled.  
Before I knew it, I was asleep, probably nestled into Sans’ ribs. I thought about apologizing to him in the morning before dreams took hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting a Gaster Log that runs aside this, hopefully as I release every "A Fall in the Underground" chapter, there will also be a "I Heard You Fall" Chapter, just small blurbs as warm ups for my Gaster muse. Only from this point on! Happy reading and thank you for your support!


	6. Not Quiet Helena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helvetica finds her old name, but that's not quiet who she is anymore. After a good day and a style change, is everything starting to look up?

__ His skin is soft, and smells like lavender. I don’t know why, but it feels like home. We only have these moments.  
__ “Helvetica, do you love me?” He asks in his familiar tone. He doesn’t believe he is good enough, but he has it backwards, I am so lucky for his presence.  
__ “I do. I love you.” I reply effortlessly, as I have before. Though I don’t remember those times. We kiss, quick, a grasp for affection in a world where we have little and I slip from the closet we were hiding in. Why a closet? Because we could hush servants, and I could offer them my small allowance to keep them quiet, where it was much harder to avoid mother in the many rooms of the house. “I need to go, before she notices.”  
__ Sweet kisses, and soft goodbyes before I walk out and he waits.  
__ The halls are long and decorated with tapestries and paintings. My brothers are playing and running down stairs. Chase’s eye is black, swollen.  
__ Chase, sweet boy, small, with brown hair lighter than mine. He is missing his front tooth. Mother is the only explanation for his eye. I grit my teeth and sigh. How could she do this to him? Small and innocent, only a child.  
__ Robin, the red head and middle child. His eyes like tree bark, and his smile snarky but affectionate in its way. He was being cautious of Chase, not a good sign, but at least he knew better than to rough house too much.  
_ She must’ve been on a rampage. “Hey, boys!” I call and wave them up stairs. “Let’s go play our nursery, huh?” _ __   
_ “We’re too old for that!” Robin whines as Chase scampered up the stairs. Too obedient to argue.  
_ __ Years before my death, just children. Only children who wanted to protect each other and stay clear of their mother. What had changed?

__ A change of scene; my bedroom. The walls are pale under cover of darkness. I slide on my grandmother’s wedding dress, as I had time and time before and grab a small hand bag with only essentials. Seventeen, and running away. Not such a preposterous thing. I slip from my room almost silently, and outside, without a hitch.  
__ Sebastian is waiting by the woods, we embrace. Months of planning, almost a year. Children raised together who never wished to be apart.  
__ As we turn to depart, a watchmen calls. “Hey, you stop there!”  
__ He grips my hand and we run through the forest, there is no care here. We live so close to Mt. Ebott, down by all the trees and if we could just lose them in the forest.  
__ “Mistress!!! Helena has escaped!” My name. My name is Helena.  
__ Hounds, running feet. Quick breaths and worried words of encouragement.  
__ They are catching up to us. Sebastian is slipping behind.  
_ “Go on, love! I will catch up!!” _ __   
__ I know he is lying. I fight him for a moment but there is nothing I can do. I run on and only pause when I have found a good hiding spot in the brush.  
__ Robin walks up to him, grown big and strong. He hit his growth spurt, tall and unkind. Only fifteen. Chase is standing behind him, unsure, only thirteen. Still missing his tooth.  
__ Robin kicks Sebastian in the chest and he scrambles back before standing. “Sir, please!” Another kick, to his knee. A sickening snap. There are only more as Robin gets on top of him to beat his head into the root of a mighty oak tree.  
__ “Can we go home?” Chase asks quietly.  
_ “No, mother wants her found, and dealt with.” Chase cringes. “You don’t want more beatings, do you?” _ __   
_ “No.” _ __   
__ I turn and run and here Robin bring his attention to me. My dress is catching, tearing. I won’t stop.  
__ It’s not long before I stumble and they catch up. Robin knocks me forward and I hit my head. He picks me up, I punch him in the nose. He bleeds and I kick frantically  
__ “Grab her legs!!” He snaps and Chase does what he’s told.  
_ “This is wrong, god forgive me.” He whispers. “Helena, forgive me… What are we doing with her?” _ __   
__ I haven’t stopped moving. I’m flailing widely, biting, kicking, clawing. Blood everywhere, mine, and his.  
__ “Into the hole, in the side of Mt. Ebott. We’ll find somewhere else to put him.”  
__ I scream and he slams my back to the ground, knocking my breath from me. I feel hazy as they climb, fading in and out of consciousness. I must’ve cut my side, because it aches.  
__ “I don’t want to do this.” Chase is crying.  
_ “Fine, here.” Robin takes me in both his arms, I’m lying still, no fight left. I know I will drop soon and be dead.  
_ __ He holds me out from him and looks me in the eyes. “I’m sorry it had to be this way… I told you to listen.” He sighs and then I was falling. 

 

“Helvetica, Helvetica wake up!” Sans was yelling at me and holding my arms above my head. Black tar dripped from his nose, it was cracked, broken. Had I punched him? I stopped moving, apparently I had been struggling against him in my sleep, desperately trying to escape the hands of my brothers.  
He paused, must’ve seen my sockets open, and his hands released my wrists as he sat back to study me carefully.  
“You’re nose…” I whispered and he wiped the tar away, shrugging. “What happened?”  
“You were screaming, kicking… Hitting. I was trying to wake you up, must’ve been a hell of a dream.” He didn’t seem down, but I was never sure with him. His grin had returned, so I assumed seeing me back to normal was a nice change. “Kicked me in the face.”   
I cringed and began wiping the tar from my face. “So, this isn’t gonna make my face all uneven, right?” I muttered. “If it turns to bone then--”   
“It’s specific to the person it came from, made from bone cells, magic, and anything we ingest.” He clarified as he moved completely off me. “About that dream… You screamed the name “Chase” a couple times.” I finched and sat up bringing my knees to my chest. “If you don’t wanna talk, you don’t have to.”   
“He was my brother. I remembered parts before my death… I really don’t want to talk about it.” I admitted and he nodded solemnly.   
“I gotta plan for us today then. We’re gonna go visit Tori.” He stood up and I looked up at him. “In a minute, I’m going to Grillby’s first… Oh, wait, I haven’t introduced you yet, where are my manners? I guess I should wait for you to recover a little, huh?”   
“I’m fine.” I insisted and stood up, but fell back. The non-existent flesh ached and I groaned as I settled back down.   
“‘Fine.’” Sans repeated with air quotes for emphasis as he sat beside me. “You need to take it easy, memories like that can’t be good for anything. It’d suck if I had to carry you or something.”   
“That would suck.” I agreed and tried to ignore the pain. Aching side, painful ribs and a terrible headache. “I’m sorry about your nose.”  
“It’ll be fine.” He waved me off and then went silent. We both did, enjoying the calm, as I snuggled into the couch and closed my sockets.   
“Helena.”   
“Hm?”   
“My name is Helena.” I mumbled and he shifted. “Or, it was.”   
He chuckled quietly. “Was?”   
“I don’t know if I really know her anymore, she’s a part of me, but I feel like with all the changing I’m going to do she isn’t me.” I opened my sockets slowly. “She would’ve been terrified here. I’ve grown past her.”  
“It must be terrifying, not knowing yourself anymore.” He leaned back and folded his hands over his ribs. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I’ve got your back, ya know?”   
“That means a lot, Sans.” I muttered and reached over to squeeze his hand.  
“Anyway.” He chuckled and stood up. “You okay to stand?”   
I nodded and slowly hefted my achy self up from the couch. “It hurts.” I muttered and he stepped closer to me. “I’m fine, just achy.”   
“Alright.” He shrugged and started towards the door, and I hobbled slightly behind him.  
“So, Grillby owns Grillby’s annnnnnd?” I asked. “Pap said you’d want to introduce me.”   
“He’s… Really important to me. He looked after me and made sure Pap and I had a place and gave us food.” He chuckled and rubbed the back of his skull. “He was about my age, he took really good care of us.”   
“That’s… really cool.” I mumbled and smiled at him. He didn’t respond, casting his gaze towards the snow. “I remember a little about my dad, he wasn’t around later, I don’t remember why.”   
Sans nodded slowly and smiled just a little as we made it to the door of Grillby’s. He pushed it open and there was a chours of names, some nicknames I didn’t recognize, and some just simply “Sans!” and he didn’t seem surprised. His grin spread a little wider across his face and he shrugged his shoulders.   
“I woulda been by earlier, but I was trying to eat a clock, unfortunately, it was very…  _ time consuming _ .” He chuckled to himself and the room howled, they were mostly monsters who had resembalance to dogs and warriors, and a few interesting oddities. I pinned the man in the back, manning the bar, who was completely made of fire, as Grillby. I admit it, I was amazed that he didn’t burn everything he touched.  
Sans followed my gaze to the bespectacled man, where his eyes should’ve been were slightly lighter, orange and yellow instead of the orange-y red of his arms and head. He wore a cleaned, and pressed white button up dress shirt, and a black vest and bow tie. A proper gentleman. He was cleaning a glass and seemed, as best as I could tell, to be smiling.  
Sans seemed relaxed enough, but he was good at acting the part, far as I could tell. We approached the bar and sat on stools close to each other. I wondered what was going through Sans’ head, it can’t be easy to tell someone you care about you scooped a random urchin off the street, especially when that someone was like a father. I rested my hands folded in my lap and found that my spine still held good posture when sitting in a chair… Stool in this case.   
“Hey Grillby. It’s been awhile.” Sans chuckled and Grillby nodded low and slow, an even movement, fluid, graceful. “I… Got held up, but I wanted to introduce you to this girl I’m helping out. Helvetica, this is Grillby.”   
I spread my mouth open for a toothy smile. “Nice to meet you, sir.”   
“Grillby, Helvetica.”   
His yellow eyes shifted to me and he nodded again and few seconds later a voice murmured. “The pleasure is mine.” From just behind him. He offered a bottle of ketchup, an odd thing, to Sans who took it and smiled. He relaxed just a little as he unscrewed the cap from the ketchup and proceeded to take sips from it.   
“Good stuff, ketchup.” He chuckled. Grillby smiled and Sans looked at me. “No rest with you around. We got a date with Toriel, and bad puns.” He stood up and said his farewells to the patrons of Grillby’s before escorting me out.   
Hopefully, soon, things would calm and we could spend time becoming closer friends. Perhaps I could find my place here, as I never could above. I smiled a little at the thought as we trekked.   
We came to the door that I first came out of and Sans leaned against it with ease and slid into the snow. I fell beside him.   
“Knock knock.” He mumbled and opened his bottle of ketchup once more.   
“Oh, who’s there?” The familiar voice from my first day asked.   
“Otto.” Sans replied, closing his eyes.   
“Otto who?”   
“Otto know, I’ve got amnesia!”   
We laughed, loud and clear through the snow and spent at least two hours telling jokes leaned against this mighty door. Toriel told a few, but Sans was a true comedian and kept us well entertained. But then she had to go, and we did too or Papyrus would worry. Sans looked over my clothes and shook his head.   
“You need a change.” He said half way back. “Can’t have you walking around in that bloody thing much longer.” And when I went to argue he looked at me. “We’ll wash it and fix it up later, let’s get you something else.”   
I agreed reluctantly and followed him to a shop owned by a bunny woman. She sold me a long roomy skirt that had an elastic waist, made of a soft fabric, easily wrinkled, in the color of wine; and a tank top made of similar fabric, in a pale blue. Sans paid for it and made pleasant conversation. I eyed a cross necklace, and then we walked home.  
He smiled at me, but otherwise our short walk home was quiet. We stopped to grab Grillby’s to take home to Papyrus, and awaited his return.

“Good news, brother!” Papyrus shouted excitedly as he charged into the house, looking proud of himself as he brought his hand up to his chest. “Undyne has given me the chance to earn the recognition I deserve! I just need to capture a human!”  
Sans smiled and congratulated him, and so did I, though with less enthusiasm.  
“I hope we see a human soon!” Papyrus continued as we handed him his bag from Grillby’s and settled down for our nightly routine. It made me a little uncomfortable at first but this was my home now, and Papyrus was a good friend and I wasn’t a human anymore.

When we fell to sleep, I hoped that someday we’d escape this place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping to have the next chapter up sooner than this one, so sorry for the delay!
> 
> I've been thinking about possibly going on shamchat once a week at a specific time if anyone is interested in interacting with Helvetica or one of the other muses! Perhaps let me know in the comments or shoot me a message on the fic tumblr?

**Author's Note:**

> www.afallintheunderground.tumblr.com Is the ask blog for this particular fanfic. I will be posting all the pictures there. :D


End file.
